A fun and inspiring way to improve your writing, for experienced writers and beginners alike.

'A brilliant environment for learning and sharing'

Skills : Digging into genre : Workshops to make your writing gleam

'Loved it - loved it all!'

13th January : Springing into 2024

In this workshop we will explore what the 2024 writing year might look like for you. We will set some new year goals and come up with some ideas on how to keep going. There will be plenty of zinging prompts and exercises to keep you stimulated and get those creative juices flowing. Come along and come up with some fresh new ideas.

10th February: Speculative Fiction

In this workshop we’ll be exploring new and unknown worlds. Futuristic, sci-fi, utopias, dystopias, steampunk, fantasy – let’s see how to depart from realism and inject a bit of surreal into your fiction. The market for speculative fiction is booming and ‘sci-fi’ has moved into the mainstream. If you’d like to dip your toe into this wild world, come along and give it a try.

9th March: Historical Fiction, with visiting author Vanessa de Haan

This exciting workshop combines historical fiction exercises with a visit from successful historical novelist Vanessa de Haan. It costs £14.50, so has to be booked separately. For more information and to book click here.

20th April: Life Writing

In this workshop, we will be exploring into life writing. Memoir, biography, letters, diaries, eye witness accounts – all of these are life writing. In this workshop we will be mining your life to create your fiction. We will make use of objects, photographs, music and sounds, maybe even smells and tastes to trigger memories and recollections. We’ll look at how to balance, as Virginia Woolf says, the ‘granite’ of truth with the ‘rainbow’ of imagination.

About the workshops:

All of the workshops aim to be supportive and encouraging to writers of prose, particularly short stories, at all levels. Clare provides exercises which are stimulating and inspiring (hopefully!) in a warm, friendly atmosphere.

'Totally inspiring!'

The workshops will run for two and a half hours. We will meet online on Zoom on a Saturday morning. Much more fun than doing the Sainsburys shop!! Details of the zoom meeting will be sent to you prior to the workshop.

'Fun!'

Each workshop costs £12 (plus Eventbrite fee). You can book each workshop individually. Each workshop can be treated as a standalone experience.

Your facilitator:

Clare Reddaway has been running regular Bath and Bristol based creative writing workshops for many years. Since the pandemic, she mainly runs workshops online. This enables particpants to join from anywhere in the world, from the comfort of their own writing space. Clare is an experienced facilitator, award-winning short story writer, playwright and debut novelist.

What previous participants thought:

'If you're thinking about it, take the plunge!'

‘Loved it. Lovely environment and people, great triggers for ideas and inspiration.’

‘Very inspirational and productive’,

‘I loved the way questions triggered ideas that seemed to be close to the surface’.

'SO helpful',

'Friendly feedback',

'If you're thinking about it, take the plunge!'

'I liked the mixture of tips, facts and writing exercises',

'Brilliant. Well constructed. Interesting and informative. Well executed'

Clare's credentials:

Clare has run writing workshops at festivals and arts centres with Bristol short story collective Heads and Tales, for Julian House homeless charity in Bath, for the Refugee Centre in Bristol, for the University of the Third Age in Bath. Before Covid, she ran regular workshops at her home in Bath and at Clifton Library in Bristol. Her background as a script editor for BBC Drama and Granada TV and her MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa gives her experience of working with a wide range of writers.